One thing that is a bit strange about the combat - When using a ranged weapon, you can't move and shoot at the same time. Maybe this gets unlocked with a skill or something later on, but starting out you have to plant your feet before taking a shot. So it doesn't appear to be as mobile as GW2 looks. Still fun, though.

Played awhile today and still going strong. Just some thoughts/impressions so far.

Graphically, it's probably the prettiest game I've played on my new laptop. DDO is a close second, but Tera is winning points with it's vibrant colors and beautiful, massive backgrounds. The game has lots of pretty things to look at and I'm enjoying the art style.

It does kind of remind me of a JRPG. All the characters are pretty and there's plenty of boob-jiggling physics . Looks a bit unnatural really, but no big deal.

Combat is getting better as I get more abilities. It's flat out fun. Fighting against multiple enemies is even more fun. Occasionally an enemy will come with a pack of 8 or 10 lesser enemies. The most fun I've had thus far has been fighting off these groups.

The story and questing is solid. The quest dialog (which I read) is interesting enough, and the story is moving along nicely. As I said before, the quest dialog is written well. No translation issues or typos or anything negative to say about it really, it's all high quality.

The game probably isn't going to win any awards for innovation, but what it does offer is solid. It makes me want to keep playing and exploring the world, which really presents me with a problem because I want to play other games as well. Too many games, not enough time.

Not sure what else I can say about it but I'm having fun with it so far. I would recommend any MMORPG fan at least give it a download and see if you like it.

Thanks for posting your impressions Fluent. I've been curious about Tera and wondering if it would be worth a shot. I'm an MMO dabbler - I jump around to different ones at least briefly just to see what they're like. I'll probably add this to my list.

Ironically GW2 authentication servers were down earlier so spent an hour with it or so. I like the traditional questing system and the expanded dialogs, easier to get lost in the world. Combat is definitely fun, and I'll have to program a Tera profile my Razor Naga since Tera uses function keys. Graphics are a bit behind GW2 but only marginally. Well worth continuing. BTW as a Warrior I'm not rooted like the hunter and I'm constantly strafing / dodging to flank.

I'm level 7 and still on noob island. Mechanically I like the game a lot. What I'm struggling with is the world. I'd love to see the quest mechanics in GW2 but otherwise would much rather 'be' in the GW2 world. There is some undeniably cheesy, cutesy and gawdy things about Tera. I like my enemies more lethal looking, my women more realistically dressed (less fan service) and a grittier world. That all saidi will keep playing because judging the game based on such early impressions on Noob Island would be a mistake.

Enemies get more dangerous looking in dangerous areas. Noob Island is pretty safe overall, but even in the Tainted Gorge you're going to see some demons that look pretty badass, and the boss creatures look pretty vicious as well. It's not all Terrons

Just got out of a party of 5 taking on basilisks. Wait till you see those things. Awesome looking huge creatures that are real tough. A few of our party died in the process of killing them and the quest was on level.

I foolishly tried to kill one solo before I knew what they were. I knew I was in trouble when the music changed to some crazy hype battle music and this mammoth started charging me. I managed to get it down to 70% health after about 5 minutes of constant barrage but I was one shot away from dying and had to run away. After that I got a party together and we started killing them much more efficiently.

Visually this game really delivers. The next zone you go to after Noob Island is really nice. Some nice forested areas, some beautiful open fields, and the music is stunning. It's real purdy.

And when you actually start getting some nice combat abilities, it changes the game. Archer gameplay is crazy. I have a close quarters melee attack, a close quarters shooting attack that also sends me flying backwards out of harms way, a machine gun attack, 2 power attacks that you can charge up, and I can also lay a trap to slow down the enemy. It gets real intense and fun when you link together all these abilities. And the cooldowns aren't bad at all so you are able to string together these awesome attacks frequently, so combat stays fun throughout.

I also learned how to enchant my gear. That is pretty fun as well, although I'm not sure I should be spending too much currency doing it, because I'm usually able to find a better piece of gear by completing quests, so enchanting one piece of gear at least early on is somewhat pointless. But if you are able to enchant it 9 times and get the +9 bonuses on it, that piece of gear becomes very powerful. So far I've enchanted a pair of gloves to +6 and they are really sweet, and my bow and cuirass are both +3. It's a pretty cool system once you get the hang of it.

A little forced socialization goes a long way. I grouped up for some instance play at the end of noob island and we stuck together for hours after. I got lucky grouping with two toons that turned out to be USA guys with ages 29 and 52. Lucky pug that was. Good peeps. So the instance requirement was the trigger. I think people want to socialize generally but are almost as hesitant to do so as in real life with strangers. With the occasional group instance requirement its sort of like school - you dont have a choice. Since GW2 does all this in the public game world it doesnt force social interaction. An unintended design mistake? Who knows. its facinating how a seemingly small difference can have such monumental consequences given social behavior patterns. One could write some interesting papers on this i guess. Now MMO socialization is also a double edged sword, as now I'm inevitably going to have social obligations when I log back in, and the game has ample solo content. This is one of my issues with LOTRO. To make grouping my choice I'd love a stealth login mode where I'm invisible on friend lists.

I realize my comments aren't about Tera per se, but these are thoughts I woke up with, as I'm still trying to answer the "which is better" question. Short answer is still GW2 but I lament on some of the features notably the quest system and socialization. Tera improves after the mediocre noob island thankfully, but I want more. It still retains that goofy WoW cartoony flavor I find unappealing. But getting better. Need more BAMs!

One good thing about Tera is that it's pretty easy to get a group right now. I've seen players standing outside of group areas waiting for invites plenty of times, and the times I wanted a group it was very easy to get one by using the chat.

Another cool thing is that if you feel there's too many people on your server or in your area, you can change the channel. This makes questing much easier because everyone is not fighting over monster spawns or whatever. You just switch the channel to one with a low population and bam, there's no one around to bother you.

The game could use more BAMs, but I think it's pretty good as-is. I just reached an area in the Celestial Hills last night that has 2 different types of huge enemies that can't be soloed. And right before that area was an entire group area, the Bastion of Lok, with a few very tough enemies there, like a golem and then whatever it is at the end of the area (I moved on to a different area instead of finishing it).

Very cool game. It's not perfect, or the "end-all-be-all" of MMO gaming, but it's a pretty damn good game. If GW2 is even better than I'm definitely interested in checking that out, just let me know when that free weekend happens and I'm there .

Many of the "elite" mobs (such as the basilisks mentioned above) can be soloed at the same level. However it takes LOT of time (they have lot of HP) and learning their attack pattern. They cna easyly one shot you if you make a mistake. I like this design very much since its always better to kill them in a group but if you are finding it hard to get a group you can still kill them solo as well.

Solo can be challenging at times as AoE can get you in quite a bit of trouble. I had a good dozen mixed race creatures after me last night when I only meant to fight a single centaur. Hit a few too many doing AoE, kite into others, more AoE, more tails, more trouble! I haven't died yet (level 15) but I've come close. Off to play….

The only close call to death I had was trying to solo the basilisk. Otherwise, Archer class is pretty easy to play and survive with. It's not too hard to pick enemies off at a distance and when they get close use an ability that evades their attack and lets you get more shots in.

Haven't played in a few days, been playing DDO, but when I go back to this I'm going to try playing it with a controller. Should be interesting.